


Cliffhanger

by Merit



Category: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: F/F, Fandom, Horror, Monsters, Outer Space, Pranks and Practical Jokes, ToT: Monster Mash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-20 14:52:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12435117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merit/pseuds/Merit
Summary: All Murderbot wanted was to watch the last episode of Stars Unbound.





	Cliffhanger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vass/gifts).



**Day One**

The ship left in short, sharp bursts, as it cleared customs. I sat near the ship's core, the ship's hearts thrumming under my hand, tedium already starting to set in.

I started watching _Stars Unbound_ in a fit of boredom.

 

**Day Eleven**

Space rippled like a great ocean in front of me, stars blooming to life, a great sun flaring, as I journeyed deeper into the unknown. The humans were excited, buzzing around the ship like this was a grand adventure. This was the first journey to the Delta Quadrant in over a hundred years. And no ship had ever returned.

I sensed only boredom ahead.

 _Are you sure we can't turn back_ , I messaged the ship.

The ship took a moment to respond.

 _You do realize I am calculating a thousand problems, responding to a dozen_ _inquires_ _from the humans and maintaining my normal functions?_ She finally responded.

 _Yes_ , I immediately replied, _but I still think we should turn back._

Ships can't sigh precisely. They're much less humanoid than Murderbots. There are a six hearts beating at her core, but the ship has no face. It felt like the ship sighed.

 _Turning back at this junction is not in the mission plan_ , the ship pointed out, _the humans would find it very unexpected and would override the functions. We can't turn back._

 _I've run out of episodes of_ Stars Unbound, I said simply. _There is one episode left and we're outside of range for me to download it. I_ need _to watch that episode._

The ship hesitated. The ship was also watching _Stars Unbound_ but was a full season behind me and had refused to discuss the series with me, sure that I would spoil her. The ship hadn't the time and resources to finish the final season with the journey into the Delta Quadrant in full swing.

 _Is it good_ , the ship asked.

 _I need to watch the final episode_ , I said. _I can't say anything more._

The ship was silent. Finally she actually did sigh, sending the message to me directly, the text flashing across my vision.

 _We can't_ , and she sounded agonized. She turned off communications with me and refused to answer any of my messages.

It was then that I decided to sabotage the journey into Delta Quadrant.

 

**Day Sixteen**

I started small.

I didn't want ship to know about my exploits – at least until she had caught up on the latest season of _Stars Unbound_. Once she realized that we were light years away from a decent connection and we were months away from the half way point of the mission, she'd come to her senses. She'd have to after _that_ cliffhanger.

I had already watched the penultimate episode twelve times, trying to find the clues that would solve the mystery. I'd tried, desperately, to join my usual message boards but UNABLE TO CONNECT flashed over and over. They'd be missing me.

And the ship was ignoring me, so that made things easier.

In Dr Saneed's room, I shuffled his papers together. In Dr Zhang's room I unscrewed her shower head, slightly, so it would jerk and splutter before unleashing hot water on her. In Commander Amira's room I dusted sand over every corner of her room.

I am not sure why there was half a tonne of sand in the cargo hold. But I made use of the equipment I had.

 

**Day Twenty**

_I know what you're doing_ , ship said.

I ignored ship, focusing on unscrewing the bolts in Dr Oliver's bed. Someone, and it may have been me, hadn't performed maintenance on it for years. There was rust and that was technically in violation of agreement of the mission. They'd get a discount on their next journey out.

Admittedly no one ever complained about the beds being rusty. Which is why I had never cleaned them.

 _That was a cruel thing to do to Dr Zhang. How did you even manage to find those fake spiders?_ Ship continued.

I paused, tilting my head back so one of ship's camera could see my face. I didn't like having my face bared around the humans, but they also didn't know I was a Murderbot. It was a compromise.

 _You remember Teen Cyborg?_ I asked. Ship hesitated. Teen dramas were her weakness, she loathed them with a passion she spared for nothing else.

 _I remember reading about it_ , ship said carefully.

_When the show was about to get canceled a bunch of us sent in spiders. You know because of the -_

_I remember reading about it,_ ship said more pointedly.

 _I had some left over_ , I said. _Also some got sent back to me._

The ship was silent. But it was a judgmental silence.

 _You should stop_ , the ship said, but there was no heat in her message.

 _You're up to date with_ Stars Unbound, I breathed, suddenly excited. If I could get ship on my side, ending this mission would be much easier.

 _No,_ the ship said. _I've got three episodes to go. And well – t_ _he coordinates I'm following were set months ago. We're following the last known route of the_ Red Plate.

 _That ship went missing_ , I said, _shouldn't we take a new route._

 _All the ships take this route,_ ship said. _The mission brief sets out – you didn't read the mission brief again, did you?_

 _I never read the mission briefs,_ I pointed out.

 _Read the mission brief,_ ship said.

After a few moments of thought I decided against reading the mission brief.

 _Just don't bother Commander Amira in the bathroom again,_ the ship said. _She always wants to run a full ship diagnostic and those take forever to proce_ _s_ _s._

I raised my head, staring off to the side. I hadn't done anything to Commander Amira in the bathroom.

I pondered the idea for a few more seconds before tossing the idea out of my head, focusing on loosening the screw.

With a final click, the screw unloosened enough to give Oliver sea sickness even on a space ship.

 

**Day Twenty Five**

At the beginning of the journey, the ship had heavily implied that I was some kind of specialized mechanic. The crew, who were the first people bold (or stupid) enough to dare enter the Delta Quadrant in a hundred years, had blithely accepted this. I avoided them, mostly, leaning against the ship's core, none of her hearts beating to the same tune. Streamed a thousand or so cute animal vids, riding off the truly terrible connection from an ancient satellite, before the connection crackled and UNABLE TO CONNECT flashed. The satellite was out of range of anything useful, but did have good taste in animal vids.

 _Goodbye_ , the satellite messaged ship and I, the script archaic, _and good luck_ ,

For the past several days I had pondered how to best disrupt the journey further. The scientists aboard were idiots, willing to risk life and limb for the glory of finding a new space dust or something. I still hadn't read their mission brief. But I had heard them talking about some exciting minerals in the space around us. I looked outside, through a tiny window, and all the rocks around the ship looked like normal rocks.

The service elevators, channels and tunnels were meant for a smaller 'bot. But I could dislocate every joint in my body and managed the journey to the main eating area with minimal damage to my external unit.

Dr Zhang was speaking. Dr Zhang had bright black eyes, bubbled about astrophysics and always merrily said hello whenever she saw me. Now there were dark shadow under her eyes. Dr Oliver was patting her shoulder, bright hair a frazzled halo around her head.

“You heard it too,” Zhang said, “The noises at night.”

Oliver pressed her lips together. I had been extra noisy outside her room last night. But she didn't say anything. Dr Oliver was ex-military. I hadn't remembered which military but they all walked the same.

“It could be that weird mechanic. I haven't seen them for a few days,” Oliver said. “I don't know why we agreed to taken them on.”

I felt a little offended. I resolved to be extra noisy and obnoxious to Oliver.

Zhang shuddered and continued on as if Oliver had agreed with her. “You all read the reports. Of what happened to the other ships,” she said, dropping her head.

The assembled humans all paled. Commander Amira said stonily ahead. Saneed and Tokio huddled closer.

“Whole ships disappearing, research pods vanishing without a trace. The signals lost in the middle of space that should have been safe space,” Zhang exhaled, her eyes shiny, her cheeks rosy.

“And the recordings. The screams,” Tokio said, shuddering.

“No one knows if it was safe space. No one ever returns,” Saneed pointed out. “Maybe the calculations were incorrect. A sun flare. An unexpected asteroid belt. These things happen to even the most well prepared vessels sometimes.”

 _They did?_ I wondered.

 _Oh yes,_ the ship said grimly, _ships can disappear and leave no trace behind._

 _I thought that only happened soap operas,_ I said. _You know the really good ones where someone always has a secret sibling they're banging. But then they're pregnant and they don't know if it is a sultry captain, the secret sibling or the exotic alien._

The ship was silent. _You promised you wouldn't spoil me_ , she said accusingly.

 _That happened on Venus Flushed,_ I said, _a true Stars Unbound fan would know that._

 _That prequel doesn't count_ , she rebutted.

If I was the type to roll my eyes, I would have. _It introduced the Sung Triplets!_

The ship was silent. Distracted. The ship hated the Sung Triplets and always responded -

 _Something is wrong,_ she said.

Then everything went dark and shook. I rattled in my cramped confines, a pipe tearing into my midsection. Instantly my capacity went down thirty percent.

The humans screamed. Commander Amira shouted for everyone to calm down as the emergency sirens kicked in, shrieking their distress. I could hear Dr Zhang sobbing and couldn't tell if it was from distress or pain.

The emergency lights kicked in.

The ship's designers had even installed them in the service shafts. I blinked against the sharp glare, my insides oozing out.

“To the command!” Commander Amira yelled.

 _I'm not sure what caused that_ , the ship admitted, sounding frazzled. _It was like something… turned me off and I couldn't do anything to stop it._

I was silent. After the whole… murder incident, I had been turned off. When I first came back, I was just a badly networked central nervous system, no body to cling to. I hadn't been able to scream.

I decided to crawl out of the service shaft. Find somewhere to fix my midsection. I'd have to go back there sometime, I made a note to myself, to clean up the blood later.

 

**Day Twenty Seven**

I was in rest mode when the sirens woke me. The ship and the humans had been on edge all week and some of the tension had seeped to me.

 _Ship_ , I cried out. Ship didn't respond but the door to the hallway snapped opened. The lights flashed twice and I got to my feet. I rushed out, soon joining the humans in the control room. Commander Amira was already there, clad in a dark robe, her mouth agape. I jerked my gaze to the vast screen in front and -

I was gaping as well.

The creature on the screen was huge. Darker than the space, a void against the stars. Great tentacles wiping out comets. It opened, something, maybe a mouth and -

There were hundreds of teeth, great and small, jagged points leering closer to the ship.

Commander Amira was shouting. Oliver had snapped to attention, hands flickering over one of the controls. I recognized the sequence. Amira wanted the ship to evacuate and _fast_.

Ship seemed to be moving slower than usual.

I crowded past Tokio who had fallen to her knees, tears streaking her dark skin. I knew my way into ship, ship had shown me, ship's hearts stuttering in unison.

 _It is attacking me_ , ship messaged me, the transmission garbled, static breaking the words.

But the tentacles hadn't even reached us. They stretched out and out, seemingly miles and miles away from us. The mouth, the void, screamed and flinched.

I shouldn't be hearing screams.

 _It is hurting me_ , ship said.

The screen flashed white, the monster disappearing from our view. Stars streaked past us, suns flaring and dying as the ship sped past.

I still heard the screams ringing in my ears.

 

**Day Twenty Nine**

No one had slept. Amira had eventually ordered a watch, sending Oliver and Zhang off to bed. Tokio sat shivering at her console, despite the heavy coat draped over her shoulders.

Ship hadn't answered my messages.

The scream still echoed.

I huddled near to the ship's core, only five of her hearts beating.

 _Ship_ , I tried again, _what was that_.

There was a long pause, the connection lit up between up, but ship didn't respond for a long time.

 _It tried to take over me_ , ship said, _I could feel the tentacles driving into me_.

The ship's hearts all shuddered at once, a terrible silence, before they starting beat off tune again.

 _They were too far away_ , I said.

 _Not to me_ , ship said. A pause again. _We almost didn't get away._

_Do you think that's what happened to the other ships?_

_Yes_ , and this time the ship didn't hesitate. _I have… so many things to do. I sustained serious damage to my defensive system. It_ needs _to be back online._

Ship dropped out again. I played our conversation over and over again.

 

**Day Thirty Three**

The ship seemed almost normal again. The ship's crew were not. Every moment waking was spent having long and heated arguments over whether or not the mission should end.

I decided that was a good time to start playing archived footage of the creature.

Tokio screamed and stepped back into the wall, causing a minor contusion but I figured it was a worthwhile enterprise.

 _That wasn't very nice_ , ship said.

 _The alternative may be death. I'll take my chances_ , I replied, too quickly.

 _They're humans_ , ship said, they're stupid, ship meant.

 

**Day Thirty Nine**

CONNECTION MADE.

A truer pleasure I have never known.

I connected, it was weak, but the final episode of _Stars Unbound_ was within my reach.

 _Ship_ , I messaged, _when it is finished downloading, do you want to watch together?_

 _Yes_ , ship said.

I curled closer to the ship's hearts.

 


End file.
